film: American Grafitti

[Benefit]

film: American Graffiti

Classic cars. Classic music. Classic themes. Classic movie.

American Graffiti is an excellent depiction of the glorious heyday of White America before Vietnam, Nixon and the sexual revolution irrevocably altered our cultural landscape. The film was groundbreaking in its time and extremely influential. Happy Days, the Fonz, and all the other terrific coming of age stories involving middle class Anglo high school students like Dazed and Confused and The Breakfast Club owe their existence to American Graffiti.

Following the success of Easy Rider, lots of studios adopted the method of turning young, visionary directors loose with a limited budget and minimal studio interference. This model didn't end up working out terribly well, but it did yield some classics like American Graffiti which might not have gotten made any other way. Aside from the fact that this was the film that gave Lucas the leverage to get Star Wars rolling, it's also one of, if not the first, movie to employ an epilogue using text tags that explain what happened to the main characters.

The narrative is very cleverly layered, composed of touching and beautifully painted vignettes that constantly cross paths. There is a ton of symbolism to be analysed by doughy professors of cinema with nothing better to do, but I hate that shit, so I'll just say that the dialogue is top-notch. Lots of very funny moments, and plenty of ad-libbing that allowed the bonanza of fresh talent in the film (Harrison Ford, "Ronny" Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Paul Le Mat who unfortunately never really made it big) to shine. Even the minor characters acted terrifically. Because it was a low-budget production with a smash and grab shooting process, Lucas was really able to coax some very natural and amazing performances out of his young cast.

* * *

Steve Bolander: "Where are you going? It's awfully early in the morning."

Curt Henderson: "I have a dentist appointment."

 

[stinkfoot]

awesome movie.

awesome music as well.

 

[tribal girl]

Poll added

 

[wanderlust]

i love this movie. really classic americana for me... and a great way to start off harrison ford.
oh, the music.... i bought the soundtrack years and years ago. i watch it when it shows up on sunday afternoon tbs and other stations just for the music.

this is a great example of a well done coming of age film.on the same scale as the breakfast club has becoming for 80's teens. sit back while you watch and listen to what the cool kids, and sometimes not so cool kids, were doing.

 

[DarthMom]

this is a classic that i am always shocked i haven't seen yet, thanks for the reminder!

 

[tribal girl]

I haven't seen it either!. I guess we'd better get a move on eh?

 

[DarthMom]

yup! if i can find my damn netflix dvd's i lost in a move a few weeks ago, i would bother with adding it to my queue!!

 

[Mazey]

i took my girlfriend to it when it came out , she's my wife now--- gee thats been a long time... but it is one of my favorite movies....

 

[DarthMom]

aside from "holy fuck, someone older than me on bl" i want to say, that is really sweet, mazey.

 

[Sn2.ru]

Following the success of Easy Rider, lots of studios adopted the method of turning young, visionary directors loose with a limited budget and minimal studio interference. This model didn't end up working out terribly well, but it did yield some classics like American Graffiti which might not have gotten made any other way.

Eh, American Graffiti was very much a return to form for Hollywood. I wouldn't confuse Lucas with the truly "visionary" young filmmakers of the post-classical era.

Lucas was one of the film school kids (along with Coppola and Spielberg) who came on the scene and made HUGE bucks for the studios by lifting Hollywood out of the brooding, existential themes of the '60s and early '70s. They brought back the good guy/dark side shit, crime epics, etc. Audiences were pretty much relieved and glad to have hugely entertaining, though often brainless, pictures back on the screen.

The '70s are my absolute favorite decade in film, and I must say, I think the Lucas, Spielberg camp are the least interesting of the American lot.

I think AG is a hell of a movie though, and lots of fun.

Hey, you should see Spielberg's first movie, Sugarland Express. It just goes to show that every pig-fucker has his day.

 

[Benefit]

The 70s are my favorite era for film too. And even though there are obvious similarities between Lucas, Coppola and Spielberg, I wouldn't personally lump them into one umbrella category. In my estimation, Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest technical directors of all time, and Coppola (pretty much through sheer dumb luck) helmed the greatest movie of all time (The Godfather), and they all impacted the medium in different ways.

As for George Lucas, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I think you were confused about my meaning, because I wasn't calling Lucas a visionary art-house type director, like a Jim Jarmusch or something. I wasn't talking about Indiana Jones or Star Wars either. I was merely referring to American Graffiti's production process being similar to Easy Rider's: a young director shoots a film in under a month on a low budget using relatively unknown actors (who are catapulted to stardom over the course of the next decade), which was a production model that a lot of studios tried out in late 60s, early 70s. What constitutes a "visionary" director is of course debateable, but in the context in which I used it I meant a talented individual who turned out to be one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.